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How can I recover my personal property from my mother's storage unit?

Reseda, CA | February 23, 2013 3:12am

My mother will not allow me to recover my things from her storage unit. My sister took over payments of the storage and is demanding money in exchange for my things. When I stored my items in said storage, I informed my mother that I would try to help her with a portion of the storage payments if I had the money. Unfortunately, I have been unable to do so. I had a storage unit under my name with her belongings in it. I had to close it out because of delinquent payments. I still have her items in my position, but do not want them. Can I take legal action to retrieve my property and return hers? Can she counter sue me for not giving her a payments although no actual arrangement was made? Does my sister have legal power over my property and make me pay?

Also for the storage under my name- I had to pay for the storage unit to be paid off, because the storage unit had been delinquent for several months. When I paid off and closed out the storage unit, it was about to be auctioned.

Asker

This sounds like a situation where a letter from an attorney may be able to resolve the issues. Some attorneys, like myself, do letters at an affordable price for this type of issue. You will need a letter like this prior to filing a small claim court case for recovery of personal property (if your possessions are valued at $10,000 or less). You may wish to return your mother's property to her, having her sign an itemized list of what you have returned to her, so that is not an issue. However, the attorney letter could address this as well. Good luck.

I am licensed in California only and my answers on Avvo assume California law. The above answer is for general information only and is based on the information you posted. Every case is fact dependent, so to get a thorough analysis of your situation, you will need to consult face to face with an attorney licensed to practice in the jurisdiction where the incident took place. Do not conclusively rely on any information posted online when deciding what to do about your case. No attorney-client relationship shall be created through the use reading of this response on Avvo. You should never delay seeking legal advice, disregard legal advice, or commence or discontinue any legal action because of information in this response.